The document actually reported only a minor matter: several villagers from a village outside the city wanted to work in the Stantin Duchy, so they had notified Bunta City in advance to retain their status as its citizens.
There had been a few similar cases recently, but Earl Stark had paid them little attention, approving them according to the established practice for such matters.
This time, however, seeing the same sort of report in another document suddenly filled Earl Stark with a powerful sense of crisis.
After thinking it over carefully, he realized why that feeling had suddenly arisen.
The reason was simple: the issue of Bunta City's tax revenue, which had been worrying him for the past few days.
With the Xinfei Merchant Guild withdrawing, the other merchant guilds in Bunta City, large and small, following suit, and the Commerce Office suddenly granting the right to trade freely, Bunta City's tax revenue this year would very likely plunge to the level of several years ago.
Losing the substantial taxes paid by the major merchant guilds was almost like having a huge chunk forcibly gouged out of Bunta City.
And now even the commoners under Bunta City's jurisdiction wanted to leave. To a traditional noble like Earl Stark, that practically shook the city's very foundations.
Earl Stark recalled the documents he had approved over the past few days and discovered another startling fact: the commoners applying to leave Bunta City were all ordinary farmers from the villages outside the city.
For Earl Stark, who placed tremendous importance on agricultural development, these ordinary farmers were the very foundation supporting Bunta City.
One farmer leaving might make little difference, and ten might not matter either, but a hundred, or even several hundred, would have a tremendous impact.
After recalling the documents he